Pointed Discussion

it's a COMMON! definitely looking forward to B/U or G/U infect in limited.

Lets break this down for a bit.

Hmmm... CMC 5U... this better be good

Infect, Nice! Blue could use some infect

pseudo-Infect-home? Hmmm.... odd...

5/5 p/t

Wait what?! A 5/5 for with infect for 6? and it's drawback is what, your opponent must be closer to death? All for a common? In the proliferate color? Whaaaaaa?

Infect-Home. Yes.

Is that just me, or does this thing look vaguely like a Xenomorph from "Alien"?

Great Art. Huge? Blue? Infect? Blue is Wicked in this set!

MasterOfEtherium is so excited by this card that he forgot to capitalize "is", "in", "this" and "set".

Don't worry about this thing's restriction, because Blighted Agent won the evasion lottery in the same color. Also notice how it's not a serpent, because they're not allowed to make good serpents.

Infect Home. . . .whats next? A vampire with less than 10 life home?

If it were anything other than common I wouldn't give it a second thought because there are better options. As it is a common, however, this thing is eight different kinds of kick a**. The "drawback" is basically worth ignoring since he won't drop until mid-to-late game, by which point you have already poisoned the hell out of your opponent with Blighted Agent. If he can't attack once you drop him because of his rules text, you have done something seriously wrong.

I LOVE this card for flavor, if nothing else. But, then again, there's a lot to be happy about with this common.

Use the agent to get the first counter on, then this bad boy shows up...

I would have loved this card to be a 4/5 with flying or trample.

This is actually really solid,
Even if you somehow haven't gotten a poison counter on your opponent, which is very unlikely,
This guy is a 5/5 infecter that can block all day.
People sometimes miss that, since blue's very much "can't attack or block" with its drawbacks.
Then when he's finally unchained (now I get it!), he beats face like Phyrexian Juggernaut.

Can still block, and is occasionally a better choice than the Juggernaut. Same power/toughness, same converted mana cost, so the true question comes down to what you need in the deck. This is rather better poised for Blue, considering the sit-back-and-wait ideology, while Blighted Agent opens up the floor for him, if need be.

next turn, drop Whispersilk Cloak and lawl

I must admit, when I first saw this card I was very unimpressed. Seemed like one of those commons that was more for flavor than anything, not really good for anything (although the artwork is pretty nice.)

As one of those unfortunate second-rate players who dabble in budget Standard play, I was surprised with the effectiveness of this card. Sure, it's six mana, but in mono-blue infect, it replaces the six-drop slot that is normally occupied by a certain Frost Titan, and EvilCartographer said it well - by the time you drop him, his restriction is moot. Better than Phyrexian Juggernaut because he can block if you need it, and it meaty enough to stick around against things like Phyrexian Crusader and friends.

If you're trying out mono-blue infect, use this guy as a backup in case your proliferating antics go awry. Between Blighted Agent and Viral Drake, you'll be sure to have done enough to force your opponent to deal with him.

The imprisoned beast writhed about and screamed, it's silvery scales bathed in an eerie blue: the quicksilver mist. The beings at the ends of the chains were at a constant tug of war with the incessant beast, it was always rampaging about, taking any chance it could to escape it's captivity. The monster bore dangerous gases, composed of incredibly reactive AEther. The mist oozed about and engulfed the vicinity. The masked men inched along and dragged the thing despite it's endless cries could even pierce the most stalwart of steels on Mirrodin. Soon, the men could relax as a fitting snack was found for the beast. A pack of Nim that had plagued a sector of the blue were scampering to and fro, trailing their black gunk and poison in the quicksilver lakes. They released the beast onto the horde of zombies and witnessed a gruesome bloodbath. The storm of blood coated the blue in a crimson flair and offered a bit of variety to the scene. The screeches of the beast were replaced by satisfied burps of metal and drawn out slurps. The men backed away and fled the scene with their mission complete and the beast laid in wait for another set of escorts to lead it to another meal.

If the opponent doesn't see it coming, this + Soul's Fire = GG

A very good pauper card... and the best islandhome version ever.

Even outside of infect this is an amazing blocker. That which it doesn't kill it seriously truncates.

dude, ur right, this is so the xenomorph from alien

Deep-Fried Owls, Y U NO THINK OF DIFRENT WURD BUT 'BEAST'?

Most of what can be said about the crunch has been, so I'm going to focus on fluff: this should have been a serpent. Why? Becuase it's a 5/5 in blue that "can't attack unless...."

The serpent tribe needs all the help it can get, and most can't attack unless the defending player controls an island. There are variations on that (Ronom Serpent for snow lands, Bog Serpent for swamps), but mostly islands. There are a handful of other recent serpents, however, that can only attack given some other condition: Steelclad Serpent if you have another artifact, Harbor Serpent if there are five or more islands on the battlefield, Shoal Serpent until end of turn through Landfall, and Spire Serpent if you have Metalcraft. This seems like a pretty good way of evolving a hideous tribal drawback (islandhome) into something you would see on a respectable tribe.

So now that Serpents are heading in that direction, and we have a creature which falls perfectly into serpent P/T and CMC range with a similar mechanic, why not make it a serpent? It even looks serpentine (though the "fog" makes it hard to tell what is going on). Do we really need another Horror? And for that matter, isn't everything Phyrexian a potential horror? It just seems like a missed opportunity to shore up historically weak tribe.

Just bad. I know blue has Blighted Agent and Viral Drake, but I'm probably boosting my Agent's power and proliferating to 10 by turn 6.

what's with the italiacizing in this page?